Suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist dies just before trial in New York

A man suspected of being a terrorist and scheduled to go on trial in a matter of days has died in New York. Captured by the US in Libya in 2013, he was being held on charges of participating in US embassy bombings in 1998.

Libyan Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai (also known as Abu Anas
al-Libi) was due to begin trial for the bombings outside the US
embassies in Tanzania and Kenya during which 224 people died, 12
of whom were Americans, and two of whom had been CIA employees.
Jury selection would have begun on January 12.

Indicted by a New York grand jury in 2000, Ruqai has been on the
Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Most Wanted Terrorist list for
over a decade with a $5m (£3.1m) bounty on his head.

Ruqai had been suffering from advanced liver cancer at the point
of his capture in October 2013, and he was also known to have
been suffering from hepatitis C. He was 50 when he died.

US officials have maintained that Ruqai had al-Qaeda links and
had been working for Osama Bin Laden after seeking him out in
1992. However, Ruqai’s lawyer, Kleinman, has said that he had
left al-Qaeda prior to the blasts in 1998. However, the
indictment says that he had been plotting the explosions as early
as 1993 with the militant organization.

US Attorney, Preet Bharara, said that Ruqai died on Friday night
after being taken from New York’s Metropolitan Correctional
Center to a local hospital, according to a court filing on
Saturday “due to sudden complications arising out of his
long-standing medical problems.” Bharara added that “his
condition deteriorated rapidly.”

His widow, Um Abdullah said that his US capture exacerbated
existing problems. “I accuse the American government of
kidnapping, mistreating, and killing an innocent man. He did
nothing,” Um Abdullah told AP.

Libi’s wife said that he had undergone liver surgery some three
weeks ago, slipped into a coma temporarily, but had been
transferred back to prison too early. She had spoken with him
last on Thursday.

“His voice was weak and he was in a bad condition,” she
said. “It seems they didn’t keep him for enough time in
hospital.”

Ruqai’s case had been the subject of prolonged debate because of
his illness, and the judge responsible for his case would not see
his case separately from a second defendant.

Facing charges of conspiracy to murder US citizens and destroy US
property, he had pleaded not guilty on both counts.

An Egyptian man, Adel Abdel Bary, and a Saudi, Khalid Al Fawwaz,
were extradited from the UK regarding the same bombings. Bary
pleaded guilty to charges of terrorism and was given 25 years in
prison.